The face of insincerity

It seems like only a few days ago that Scott Garrett was claiming that holding up disaster relief in order to squeeze further budget concessions out of Democrats was "the responsible thing to do." Oh wait - it was only a few days ago. August 27th, actually.

House Republicans demanded earlier this year that new disaster relief be funded by cuts elsewhere, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's office said Thursday the Virginia Republican continues to believe that.

Rep. Scott Garrett agreed. Garrett, R-N.J., said through a spokesman it was the "responsible thing to do."

"With $16 trillion in debt and budget deficits as far as the eye can see, the last thing we should be doing is spending money we don't have," Garrett spokesman Ben Veghte said.

"The initial request for a declaration of a disaster for New Jersey was a category B level, which allows for federal aid for the immediate removal of debris that threatens people's lives," Garrett said. "Now we have to move to the next level and make a petition for federal aid to repair and rebuild what was destroyed by the storm."

I will do everything in my power to make sure FEMA helps 5th District residents recover from this disaster.

I am glad that Congressman Garrett has decided that he will be a responsible representative of his district and help his constituents rebuild from a natural disaster...even if he thinks they are irresponsible for doing so. But I think while he's busy running around and showing everyone how heartbroken he is (and I do believe he's honest about that) he should be honest with them and tell them what funds he is going to try to cut from the budget in order to help them. Otherwise, he's just pandering to people in their grief.

Or he could actually come out and say that he was wrong to say disaster relief should not be contingent on budget cuts in other areas.